For my birthday my awesome wife bought me some really good beer that I had in Portland, some tea from the townshends and an amazing book about searching for mushrooms. As a result, the place in my heart that I have for Portland has grown significantly. Couple with my cousin Joe asking me for awesome places to check out in Washington, I'm almost willing to just jump on a plane and head west and maybe live it up tramp style for a little while. But cooler heads shall prevail and Maggie and I will return and hopefully spend more than 2 days there.

Archie vs. the rug

Archie

Please allow me to introduce you to our new kitty, Archie. He comes from a breeder who had an "oops" litter. He's a Maine Coon mixed with a Ragdoll, so Archie is going to be one big boy.  He's been adjusting very well to his new home & is very care free.  Harry seems to not really care about Archie's existence, but I think it's because he has discovered  Archie's delicious kitten food.  Mariah hates Archie, but she hates Harry too & she's lived with him for a very long time.  More pictures of Archie soon!    

Harry

This photo is mostly for Sarah so that she can see how pretty her photographs look on my wall!  Harry also decided to make an appearance.

Harry is kind of all over the place, I find myself photographing him a lot.

This is his favorite place, sleeping right next to the radiator.

Chicago

This is the coolest discovery of all time.  We were sitting in our dining room eating dinner, Justin looked to his right and said, "did you know you can see the Sears Tower from our kitchen window?".  I thought he was joking.  I got up, walked into the kitchen and behold, the Sears Tower in all it's glory.  The red light at the bottom of the photo is our coffee maker, the green/red light to the left is our microwave, the lit up building in the distance is the Sears Tower.  So cool! 

Settled

Justin & I are settled in Chicago for the most part.  Justin is enjoying his job & I've gained a lot more responsibilities with Robin that enable me to work from home.  It's nice to be so close to everything out here.  We hardly use any gas anymore.  

We've enjoyed being in complete control over the groceries.  When we were living with my parents there were 5 people in the house, sometimes more or less, depending.  Some days we'd come home and there would be a box of donuts on the counter.  We have really bad self control.  Now, there are never donuts on the counter.   

Today at Whole Foods I saw these Mission Figs sitting there & they were begging me to take them home, toss them in a pan & put goat cheese on them.  The end result was so pretty, I photographed it.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the cats have adjusted to the move.

Twins turn 1

Justin & I took a trip to the region on Sunday for Addy & Alex's first birthday party.  I haven't photographed them for a few months considering my busy schedule (wedding, honeymoon & moving) and in that short time Addy has started walking! 

Above they're opening our present, a keyboard, guitar & cute clothes (I especially liked the leopard print pants we got Addy).

Alex had the cutest shirt on.

Alex eating his smash cake.  I'll have to upload a few of Addy & hers later.